A town in New Jersey has been sued for $300 million by a data center developer who claims that the authorities violated several of its rights.

Developer Hexa Builders is suing the Monroe Township council and planning board after it chose in May to reject Hexa’s application to build a 1,000,000 sq ft (92,903 sqm) data center at 3043 Black Horse Pike.

Hexa’s 102-page lawsuit, filed with the New Jersey Superior Court in early June, lists twenty counts against Monroe Township, accusing it of violating its constitutional zoning power, the doctrine of fundamental fairness, the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and more.

The developer argues that Monroe Township’s rejection of the data center application was reflective of the township’s bias against data centers, rather than the quality of the application itself. Monroe Township’s justification for rejecting the project was that it was incomplete, which Hexa disputes.

Hexa’s lawsuit calls for the repeal of an ordinance banning data centers town-wide – this was passed by the township in April, about a month before its rejection of Hexa’s application – as well as monetary compensation.

“The lawsuit does not come as a surprise to the Mayor or Township Council,” reads a statement posted by the Monroe Township on its Facebook page.

“At each public meeting where this proposed project was discussed, the governing body stated that the data center ban would lead to litigation against the Township. Accordingly, the Township has been preparing to fight the lawsuit and will now zealously assert legal defenses in court.”

Hexa Builders is a residential and commercial construction company. The company is currently building a series of residential buildings in Robbinsville, New Jersey, called Raajipo.